Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I raise the issue of the necessity to commission another report of sexual abuse and violence in Ireland, SAVI. The original report was published in 2002 and it was the foundation on which the Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne reports were delivered.

I note the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and others are keen to have a second SAVI research report conducted. Interestingly, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality also strongly recommends that a second SAVI report be commissioned.

The previous report was commissioned 13 years ago by the Department of Health, and the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was also involved. This is being moved from Department to Department. The various Departments say it is somebody else's responsibility. We need a Minister to take ownership of this issue and commission another report.

The rape crisis centre has lobbied the Minister for Health, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Minister for Education and Skills but none of them saw it as their responsibility. The only positive response to date has been from the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, who is to be complimented on that. I raise it in the hope that it can be delivered.

The 2002 SAVI report told us that over the lifetime of Irish women and men, 200,000 women and 60,000 men are victims of rape. Surely those figures are alarming and would indicate that it is a national crisis. Over the 13 years since the SAVI report was published, the national policy has been informed by the results and a number of the recommendations of SAVI have been implemented. For example, there are now six sexual assault treatment units in the country, two more than pre-SAVI. There is still a long way to go.

COSC, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, has delivered its first four-year national strategy and it has also funded small awareness-raising campaigns. There has also been a significant increase in the number of victims availing of the rape crisis centres around the country which are vastly under-funded, something else of which we should be conscious. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre manages a 24 hour national helpline and in 2014 it dealt with over 12,000 calls. Over the weeks after the launch of various high profile reports, such as Ferns, Cloyne and Murphy, the number of calls significantly rise.

This is the important issue. Until the detailed research for a second SAVI is done, we will not know if these increases are due to a rise in the prevalence of the crime or to the victims coming forward feeling that their concerns will be listened to and their stories taken into account and acted upon. Until such time as we have that detailed research, we are in the dark in terms of what is happening in broader Irish society. It is quite an alarming statistic that over the lifetime of Irish women and men, 200,000 women and 60,000 men are raped. Behind those statistics there are harrowing stories indeed.

We also need a second SAVI that can properly inform policy development. As the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality pointed out, a new SAVI research report could review the implementation of the recommendations contained in the original one because some of the recommendations have been acted on but many more have not been. I believe there is piecemeal assessment of the addressing of rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence. It is simply not acceptable that we have a situation where every Department is inclined to say that it is somebody else's fault. This is, collectively, a Government responsibility and what we need is for a Department to take ownership of it and accept that another report must be commissioned.

We are talking about a cost of approximately €1 million. With the prevalence of violence against women and men, in terms of rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse, we cannot pretend that it is not an issue. Getting a report commissioned and published would at least put us on a platform towards further policy development and implementing the recommendations of a new report.

Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome this question from Deputy Kelleher. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality who is unavailable as she is attending the migration summit of EU and African leaders in Valletta.

It is some time since the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report was published. This was a fundamental piece of research, involving telephone interviews with over 3,000 persons. Its results had a significant impact, both at the time of its publication in 2001 and since. SAVI showed that more than four in ten or 42% of women and over a quarter or 28% of men reported some form of sexual abuse or assault in their lifetime. Over one fifth or 23.6% of those who perpetrated sexual violence against women were intimate partners or ex-partners. For male victims, the main perpetrators were friends and acquaintances, at 42%.

Last year, the Department of Justice and Equality received a formal proposal from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in relation to the commissioning of an updated SAVI report. I welcome the Deputy's comments about the engagement of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, in these issues. A new study will show the prevalence of and attitudes to sexual violence and show how the experience has changed since SAVI.

The Minister has also secured additional funding in the budget for a national awareness-raising campaign in 2016, with a view to reducing the impact of such violence and to changing societal attitudes to such violence. In September of last year, the Minister met the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. As a result, an updated proposal was submitted by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Professor Hannah McGee of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The overall cost of a report is likely to be in the order of €1 million over three years. That proposal recognised that, given the significant budget, funding would be divided between four Departments, namely the Department of Justice and Equality but also the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills, and Health. That is not to diminish ownership by one Minister but rather to acknowledge that this is an issue that spreads across many Departments.

The Minister has written to the relevant Ministers on this matter and expressed her support for the project. The responses received thus far make the viability of the project, as proposed, unlikely. However, the Department of Justice and Equality continues to investigate the financial feasibility and resource implications of undertaking this body of work at this time and to explore obligations with regard to requisite public procurement arrangements.

The Minister for Justice and Equality is strongly supportive of a second SAVI. The need for an evidence-based approach to policy-making is obvious. In that respect, a balance must also be struck between funding front-line services, including services provided by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, and funding research.

There are also a number of alternative sources of information to a second SAVI, and we do have available some data. The European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, FRA, study on the prevalence of violence against women was published last year.

The Minister for Justice and Equality clearly recognises the importance of research in this area. In that regard, she is continuing to explore possible approaches to identifying a ring-fenced funding stream in this area which could be used to meet public policy objectives as required.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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As Benjamin Franklin once said, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. The difficulty, of course, is that in developing a plan or policy in such a key area of society, one needs to have research. One needs to know what is happening in society, the change in trends, the attitudes of people and the confidence of people in the institutions to which they would present if they were victims of rape, domestic violence or abuse.

We all accept the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and other organisations are under-funded as it is. They need more front-line resources but that is not a reason to refuse to look at the research and evidence base that would be required to ensure we can put the resources directly in the areas where they are most needed.

The figures presented by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, and other centres throughout the country, indicate that it is a societal problem that needs to be addressed and supported in every way. We cannot trundle along, waiting year after year for the report to be commissioned, not knowing whether or not the policies in place are having an impact on reducing the crime or giving those who have been raped, abused or suffered violence the confidence to come forward. We need to know. We still hear about cases where people are reluctant to make statements, for many reasons. We must get behind it.

We cannot choose between funding either the Rape Crisis Centres or other agencies to provide front-line supports or the research. The research must be done as a stand-alone project. The previous SAVI served well in terms of developing policy, and we need an update. I ask the Minister of State to convey to the Minister for Justice and Equality my support, and that of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and many others, for her to take ownership of it. She should take ownership of it completely and ensure the funding is provided through the Department of Justice and Equality or the other three Departments involved, namely, the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills, and Health.

Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I will convey the Deputy’s comments to the Minister. Great use was made of the SAVI report. It was an important body of work which highlights the extent and nature of sexual violence in Ireland. In the meantime, other data has become available, including the study by the Fundamental Rights Agency. This research has supported the development of the second national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which the Minister for Justice and Equality intends to publish shortly, and an action plan which, when completed, will enable Ireland to ratify the Istanbul Convention. The Minister for Justice and Equality is strongly supportive of an updated SAVI report. Such a study would provide contemporary information on the prevalence of what is, and has been, often hidden in Ireland. We would have a measure of what had changed during the past decade across society as well as information on the new challenges that had emerged. The costs of undertaking this research are significant and, as I indicated and as the Deputy suggested, the Department of Justice and Equality continues to explore possible approaches to identifying a ring-fenced funding stream in the area which could be used. I will pass on the Deputy's request that it be done, given that there is no disagreement between his point and the Department's reply.